Zit is What It Does To You
by Cassie's Neighbor
Summary: Percy Jackson might be invulnerable to bodily harm. But is he invulnerable to a normal teenage skin dilemma?  Well, good thing Annabeth's there to help him out.


**A/N: This is my first PJO fanfic. Constructive criticisms are allowed.**

** Enjoy!**

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I stood in front of my bedroom mirror, gaping. I am faced to admit the odd truth before me.

"I have a zit," I squeaked.

I waited for the lightning and the thunder to blare in the sky. Apparently, Lord Zeus doesn't get my cue.

It all seemed like I was back at Circe's island again; facing a totally un-cool version of myself. I had a feeling that Circe's potion would help me with my zit-related problem, though that means I would have to deal with the extra orange fur, buckteeth and the googly eyes. I guess my mom would have to write an excuse letter why I came to school as a guinea pig.

I groaned in frustration and turned away from the glass. If I couldn't get a hold on myself, I'll end up completely destroying the mirror. I'm not really sure if the 7-years-of-bad-luck myth is true. But being a demigod practically meant that regular myths could be plausible. And I don't need seven years of face-infested zits ahead of me.

You might be wondering why I am so anxious in getting rid of this stupid blemish on my face – on the tip of my nose, in particular. I didn't care about my appearance before, so why start now? Well you see, tomorrow's our school picture day and you know what that means. _Smile for the camera! Heads and chin up! Make sure that your after lunch isn't stuck in your teeth! a_nd other ridiculous things like that. So yeah, you should be _zit-free_ on school picture day. I've got like a gazillion embarrassing pictures this year (courtesy of the Goode High School's yearbook officials) and I don't need another humiliating photo of me to be posted. At first, having a big lump of squishy blemish doesn't sound so bad. Just one click and glare at the photographer and it'll all be over. But then the memory of my it-was-so-brilliant-it-looked-stupid stunt on our rock climbing lesson in gym class slapped me back to bitter reality.

I wanted to hack the blemish with Riptide, but I can't do that without getting myself slashed up in the process. I can almost imagine the zit taunting me…

_When I die, you'll die with me! MWAHAHAHAA! _the evil zit cackled with glee.

That didn't actually reassure me and my brand of sanity.

I huffed loudly. How am I ever going to work this out?

There was a loud knock coming from the door. I walked tentatively to the door, wondering who it was. I hope it wasn't one of those preppy sunshine girls selling their preppy, sunshine chocolate chip cookies. I can't have a zit and be fat at the same time.

I opened the door and heard myself sigh with relief.

"Oh thank the gods, "I flushed. "You're not a sunshine girl."

Annabeth looked at me quizzically and then rolled her eyes. "Whatever goes in that kelp filled brain of yours, it ain't good." She made her way inside the warm room.

I took her coat and placed it on the stool. "So, what brings you here? Hadn't seen you since that dracanae accident."

She sat and righted herself on the nearest sofa and scowled. "I needed a break from the dorm. I can't go on working with Olympus' new designs without my annoying roommates fumbling with my blueprints and asking about all those Greek letters. 'Oooohhh. What does this do, Anniekins?' Bah!"

I chuckled. Yeah. It was really nice seeing her too. And then a thought just smote me.

"Annabeth," I started. "You're a… girl, right?" Hey, I could've just started choking, either way.

Annabeth's lips twitched into a smile. "Took you so long to notice."

It took almost all of my sheer willpower and manly toughness to say, "So you know how to get rid… rid of… zits, right?" I almost ran into my room and prayed for Apollo to haiku me to death.

Her stormy gray eyes met with my sea green ones, then suddenly, she squinted her eyes and her mouth popped into a little 'o'. We went silent for a while, contemplating it a bit, and then she did something that rattled even Chuck Norris' confidence.

She laughed hysterically, clutching her sides as if someone tickled her to death.

I threw a pillow at her. "You're not helping!" I growled, angry. How come I get to have the most annoying and unsupportive girlfriend in the world?

She giggled and wiped a tear from her eye. "It's just a small pimple," she said, controlling her fits. "And why are you suddenly worried about how you look? All powerful Percy Jackson is afraid of insignificant skin blemishes? Wow. Super macho." She cracked up again.

"Tomorrow's our school's picture day." I explained trying to cool off. "I seriously don't need anything embarrassing photo of me plastered in our yearbook."

"Ah. Figures," she mouthed. And then she burst out laughing again.

"Quit laughing, "I hissed. "If you'll ever have any problems with your precious skin, well, don't you come running after me."

"Fine," she chuckled. "It's just that you sound just like my roommate back at the school dorm. "

"How do you destroy a zit?"

"How do you destroy a zit?" she mumbled and stifled a chuckle. Yeah. I know. It sounded a thousand times stupider when I said it.

"I honestly don't know, Percy," Annabeth mused, her mind working out possibilities. "Haven't you been expecting any facial problems from time to time? You are a teenager, you know."

"Well, I –" I paused. "Actually, I wasn't really anticipating it. I thought I was, you know, invulnerable to that."

"To what?" Annabeth looked closer to laughter again. "To germs and pimples?"

"That's not what I – oh, forget it." I rolled my eyes and took a seat next to my girlfriend.

"Percy it's just a zit – "

"A huge, lumpy, pinkish, squishy zit."

"My point is, like everything else, it'll pass."

"Not in time for school picture day," I grumbled.

"Then what do you want me to do? Go to the nearest Wal Mart store and buy you Hecate's special dissolving cream? Geez, Percy. You sound like a girl."

That got me to shut up. Come to think of it, I do sound whiny, even to myself. A minute of loud silence passed.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "You know, a girl in my year had the same problem. She just asked the yearbook officials to edit her picture so that huge, lump-of-a-pimple on her forehead wouldn't show up."

I blinked hard. "She did?"

She nodded. "She just paid them ten bucks. She got herself a nice yearbook photo and the guys got themselves some extra cash. Everyone's happy."

I slammed myself hard on the armrest. How come I didn't get to think of that?"

"Ah. The wonders of technology," Annabeth fell back on the sofa. "Problem solved."

I scratched the back of my head, my cheeks red. "Uh, thanks. For, er – the advice."

"No problem. And um sorry about laughing at you, earlier. You just sound so… erm… frustrated."

"Like a girl."

"Pscchh. Forget that comment," she kissed my nose, right were my zit was. "I'm just… so glad to see you again, Seaweed Brain."

I wrinkled my nose and gave her one of my special goofy grins. "Likewise, Wise Girl."

We slumped back at the sofa and sighed.

Another silence.

"So, can I borrow ten bucks?"

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**A/N: Not much fluff, eh? Sorry if the story wasn't so great. Please review!**


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